Free Republic

Your account information will now be accessible to call center workers in the Philippines. Bank of America, which last fall announced plans to lay off 30,000 workers, is about to go on a hiring spree—overseas.America's second-largest bank is relocating its business-support operations to the Philippines, according to a high-ranking Filipino government official recently quoted in the Filipino press. The move, which includes a portion of the bank's customer service unit, comes less than three years after Bank of America received a $45 billion federal bailout.Roman Romulo, deputy majority leader of the Philippine House of Representatives, bragged to the Manila Standard...

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, former president of the Vatican Bank. Vatican City, May 25, 2012 / 10:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The President of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, has been fired from his post following a vote of no-confidence by the bank's supervisory board. “Over time this area had generated increasing worries among the members of the board and, despite repeated efforts to communicate these concerns to Professor Gotti Tedeschi, President of the Works of Religion, the situation deteriorated further,” read a communiqué issued by the Vatican May 25. “Following discussion of the issues, the board members voted unanimously in...

Trading in the securities of Spanish lender Bankia has been suspended "due to circumstances that may affect the normal share trading," stock market regulator CNMV said on Friday. Bankia will ask the state for more than 15 billion euros ($19 billion) to bail it out when its new management team presents a restructuring plan on Friday, a financial sector source said late on Thursday.

Out of nowehere, JPM announced 40 minutes ago that it would hold an unscheduled 5pm call to coincide with the release of its 10-Q. Rumors were swirling as to why. The reason is as follows: JPMORGAN SAYS CIO UNIT HAS SIGNIFICANT MARK-TO-MARKET LOSSES - "Fortress balance sheet" at least until Bruno Iskil gets done with it. JPMORGAN SAYS LOSSES ARE IN SYNTHETIC CREDIT PORTFOLIO - but, but, net is NEVER, EVER Gross. JPM WOULD NEED $971M ADDED COLLATERAL IF RATINGS CUT ONE-NOTCH JPM WOULD NEED $1.7B ADDED COLLATERAL IF RATINGS CUT 2 NOTCHES - how about three notches? JPMORGAN: MAY...

Two recent pieces of news drive home the importance of making sure that your bank respects your Second Amendment rights. Earlier this month, McMillan Group International, LLC announced that Bank Of America had severed ties with their company specifically because, in the years since they'd opened their accounts, McMillan had transitioned into a firearms manufacturing role. From a statement released by McMillan on April 19: McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing, McMillan Group International have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. Today Mr. Ray Fox, Senior Vice President, Market Manager, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking came...

NEW YORK — Bank of America says it has begun a pilot program offering some of its mortgage customers who are facing foreclosure a chance to stay in their homes by becoming renters instead of owners. The "Mortgage to Lease" program, which was launched this week, will be available to fewer than 1,000 BofA customers selected by the bank in test markets in Arizona, Nevada and New York. Participants will transfer their home's title to the bank, which will then forgive the outstanding mortgage debt. In exchange, they will be able to lease their home for up to three years...

"That's crazy," the person says. "I can't believe they [Chase officials] did that." Almonte called for the bank to halt the debt sale, but was warned by Lazinbat that "she had better go along with the plan to sell the misrepresented asset," she later wrote in her employment lawsuit. Almonte says she refused Lazinbat's order and escalated her concerns to his boss, Helaire. Chase fired her on Nov. 30, 2009. Carole McGinn was not a party to discussions about the debt sale but confirms the thrust of Almonte's claims. "I know she [Almonte] was looking into things that they didn't...

Citigroup was one of four large US banks that flunked stress tests aimed at seeing how they would hold up in a new economic crisis, Federal Reserve data showed Tuesday. Three others -- Ally, Suntrust and MetLife -- also failed the tests, while 15 other large bank holding companies passed the exercise, the Fed said. As a group, though, the 19 came through strongly, said the Fed, thanks to pressure for them to boost capital over the past three years as the financial sector digs its way out of the deep 2008-2009 recession. "In fact, despite the significant projected capital...

| Share Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 THE ZEIT GIST Threatened Goldman Japan workers unionize Financial giant butts against tough domestic labor law as it seeks to slim down workforce By JAMES MCCROSTIE The past year has been anything but business as usual for the financial industry. Faced with a frosty economic climate, financial service companies have been busy chopping dead wood. Last year, 200,000 financial service jobs ended up on the cutting block worldwide. In Japan, that meant layoffs at famous firms including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Mizuho Financial Group, and the not-so-famous, such as Spanish bank Bilbao Vizcaya...

The U.S. Treasury Department disrupted a Dubai-based banking operation that Washington believes had become Tehran's primary conduit for evading international sanctions and processing its oil sales, according to people briefed on the operation. The effort was particularly sensitive because the targeted institution in the United Arab Emirates is partly owned by the local government of Dubai, a close U.S. ally. The chairman of the bank, called the Noor Islamic Bank, is the son of Dubai's ruler.

A President Dares Us Once Again. In Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s story, “Alice in Wonderland,” young Alice is wandering through that magical fantasyland when she encounters a talking egg, which confused her by sprinkling clearly-misused words into the conversation. When she called him on it, Humpty Dumpty assumed his most arrogant pose and declared "When I use a word, it means just what I chose it to mean – neither more nor less." How dare the girl call him on his abuse of language?! If he wanted to use a word to mean something it had never meant before, and...

...in 2012, after eighty years of the Ex-Im Bank successfully and happily obeying its charter, President Obama has directed the Ex-Im Bank to violate it wholesale. Instead of only loaning to good foreign risks, he wants them to loan to American companies (in competition with American banks). Instead of only making loans attached to, and collateralized by, American export shipments of physical goods, he wants them to make start-up loans, short-term finance loans, bridge loans, that have nothing to do with export shipments (though they might help the companies become exporters, in the same way that if you give me...

Acting without any legal authority, President Obama has overridden the federal charter of the Export-Import Bank, and turned it into a competitor for domestic loan business, in utter defiance of the law. Hardly anyone has noticed or seems to care. Speaking at a Boeing assembly plant in Everett, Washington Friday, President Barack Obama announced a bold new plan to help American exporters: he would broaden the services of the Ex-Im Bank to help grow our exports. Now, that sounds good on the face of it. The Ex-Im Bank is chartered as an export-funding source with a very narrow, specific charter....

An SUV was driven up the front steps of the downtown PNC Firstside Center and hit the entrance of the building on Tuesday afternoon. Sources told Channel 4 Action News that, as the driver of the Hyundai Santa Fe fled the crash scene, he claimed to be with Occupy Pittsburgh and said there might be an explosive device inside the vehicle. "He came down here and he stopped at the stop sign, and then he went straight up into the building. He didn't go fast," witness Ashley Corek said. "And then he got up and walked out, and then went...

One of the two people killed on a slippery road in Superior was facing prison time after pleading guilty in federal court to charges in a widespread identity theft ring. Forty-one-year-old Frances Jones was a passenger in an SUV that collided with another vehicle last Friday. The driver of the SUV, 49-year-old Harry Wilson, was also killed. The U.S. Attorney's Office says 12 people were indicted in the plot that defrauded banks and retail businesses, primarily in the Midwest, of more than $2 million. Jones faced up to 32 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit...

On Jan. 23, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun L.S. Donovan met in Chicago with several Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) in an attempt to strong-arm them into signing up for an administration-backed agreement to settle the “robo-signing” scandal. Wall Street would pay what sounds like a large fine ($25 billion), and in exchange, the state AGs would relieve the bankers of all legal liabilities related to the fraudulent mortgage-lending practices that led directly to the 2008 financial meltdown and a 30 percent drop in U.S. home prices. The fraudulent practices of the mortgage servicers have injected...

The threat by the Islamic regime in Iran to close down the Strait of Hormuz and of Revolutionary Guards Navy boats harassing U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf has caused President Obama to send secret messages to the regime stating his concerns over the closure of the strait and the possibility of an accidental war. Since then, Iranian officials have been revealing the contents of President Obama’s letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which indicates a deep desire by the U.S. president for a dialogue with the radical leaders of Iran. However, on Saturday, Iranian officials also...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - State government stores money at Bank of America, buys goods with U.S. Bank cards, and distributes welfare aid through JP Morgan Chase ATMs. Supporters of cutting such ties to big banks say the first step is creating the state's own bank. The idea of a state bank - a favorite of the Occupy movement that sees it as an alternative to Wall Street - has strong support among the Democrats who control the state House. Speaker Frank Chopp called it a top priority last week in a speech opening this year's session of the Legislature.

Bank of America (BAC) must turn over excess funds from a record $335 million discrimination fine to community organizing groups. Critics say it's a "political backdoor" to subsidize Democrat-tied Acorn "clones." The unusual mandate is buried in a Justice Department filing last month detailing settlement terms with the nation's largest bank. Prosecutors had alleged BofA's Countrywide Financial mortgage unit discriminated against minority homebuyers in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Funds not passed out to alleged victims after two years will be handed out to "qualified" groups unconnected to the case that provide credit and housing counseling and...

Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs -- and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports. During Friday's raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory. "They're making big time money and it's going right...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Bank of America Corp closed below $5 on Monday for the first time since the depths of the bear market in March 2009. The stock closed at $4.99, down 4 percent, after dropping as low as $4.92. The shares haven't closed below $5 since March 11, 2009. Shares of financial institutions have declined on worries about the global economy and possible exposure to sovereign defaults in Europe. Bank of America, in particular, faces concerns about whether it has enough capital to absorb mortgage-related losses and meet new international standards. With more than 275 million...

Two banks in College Station have been robbed at gunpoint in the past two weeks. The person responsible for robbing a bank in Snook is also still on the loose. At a bank in Chappell Hill though, they haven't had a problem with robbers since implementing some new bank rules. Bank customer, Steve Moreland, said, "It's none of your business." You won't be able to tell who has one, just by looking at the people inside the Chappell Hill Bank. "These women, they've taken the concealed handgun carry course and of course, they can't tell you if they're carrying or...

Ganziano, a 55-year-old mother of five children, encouraged her fourth child, Daniel, 18, to set up a savings account at a nearby TCF Bank "out of convenience" due to its location. Ganziano and her son discovered that the bank offered little convenience due to the growing number of bank fees, as first reported by the Chicago Tribune. After he put money into the savings accont from his job, Daniel Ganziano's balance eventually fell to $4.85 and with such a small amount, he ignored it. However, TCF sent him a letter on Oct. 12 informing him that it had charged him...

Occupy movement wants to start a financial institutionBy: Dan Schreiber | 11/23/11 2:38 PM Examiner Staff Writer Call it the First Bank of Occupy. The denizens of the embattled tent city on San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza have been pushing for folks to close their accounts at big banks and put the money in credit unions instead. Now, the movement wants to form its own institution to keep their money out of the hands of the reviled 1 percent. A survey circulating Facebook and other social networking sites asks some simple questions that occupiers hope will relay the demand for...

"You can meet capital requirements by either raising capital or shrinking risk weighted assets," said Wiant. "Nobody wants to raise capital at these prices." That could be especially true now that the Federal Reserve said late Tuesday that BofA, along with five other large U.S. banks, will need to give the Fed loss estimates early next year that accounts for a "hypothetical global market shock."

CA Occupy activists protest at bank, 95 arrestedBy: BETH DUFF-BROWN | 11/17/11 12:21 AM Associated Press Taking their protest to a financial center, anti-Wall Street activists swarmed into a San Francisco bank and tried to set up camp in the lobby. About 100 demonstrators rushed into the Bank of America branch Wednesday, chanting "money for schools and education, not for banks and corporations." Police in riot gear responded and began cuffing the activists one-by-one as other demonstrators surrounded the building, blocking entrances and exits.

Police in riot gear face down Occupy protesters inside bankNovember 16, 2011 | 3:11 pm Police in riot gear warned Occupy San Francisco protesters who took over the lobby of a Bank of America in the city’s financial district Wednesday that they would be arrested if they did not leave the premises. About 20 officers with helmets and batons entered the bank on California Street about 2:45 p.m. and warned protesters sitting in the lobby that they would be arrested and cited. Organizers circulated fliers advising protesters what to do if they were taken into custody. Some demonstrators left the...

A local reporter in Eureka, California has the unenviable task of trying to figure out who pooped on a local bank. Via YouTube: "News Channel 3 Eureka CA reporter asking the Occupy protesters if they peed or pooped on the bank. All they can say is that the bank pees and poops on us all every day. She then walks through the camp and then gets assaulted by a camping occupy protester who doesn't want to occupy her time." Check out our new original video from Occupy Wall Street: #OWS Quiz, Part II: How Much Do the Protesters Know About...What...

PITTSBURGH -- A downtown PNC Bank branch abruptly closed Wednesday afternoon when members of Occupy Pittsburgh said they went inside to open accounts and were denied. Channel 4 Action News’ Keith Jones reported that five people involved with Occupy Pittsburgh told him employees locked the doors once they went inside the branch at Fifth Avenue and Market Street. But investigators said the bank denied them accounts because they couldn't provide identification and didn't have any money. "We didn't come here to cause any trouble. We came here to open accounts and this is the way they treated private citizens," said...

I've been checking the fdic website routinely since 2008 when everything tanked. There were about 8100 banks around at that time, according to the fdic. Since 2007, 433 banks have failed. That's over 5% of the total, or, 1 in 20. Here's the breakdown by year: 2007=3, 2008=25, 2009=140, 2010=157, 2011=84 The 2011 number includes what we have so far in October. There's no other point to this story. I just thought it was an interesting factoid. The FDIC link for the complete list is: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

The U.S. economy continues along about the same modest pace as seen in August, according to a report Wednesday summarizing information from contacts used by the Federal Reserve to measure the strength of the economy. The economy was expanding, although many areas described the pace of growth as “modest” or “slight.” “Contacts generally noted weaker or less certain outlooks for business conditions,” the report said.

Chinese Banks Need a Pre-emptive Bailout Beijing can tackle tough reforms now, or wait until problems grow more severe. By STEPHEN GREEN China's banks are much unloved these days. The government is pressing them to maintain small-business lending even as Beijing scales back broader credit creation to fight inflation. Analysts fret about the growing risks of nonperforming loans. Last week, an arm of the sovereign wealth fund Central Huijin had to buy bank shares in an effort to arrest a sell-off that has seen share prices fall some 30% this year. China is not suffering a banking crisis now, but...

With the uproar over Bank of America introducing $5 monthly fees for the privilege of using their debit cards, there is an angle to this that everyone is missing - the law of unintended consequences. Wizbang's Jay Tea blogged about this very point over the weekend, and I want to take his point a bit further. The law of unintended consequences is going to be one of the chapters in my ongoing (which will end up being nine or ten parts) Economics for Politicians series, but this particular incident warranted its own post. First let's step back a minute...

There are many observations that can be made about President Obama’s remark Monday to ABC News that businesses “don’t have some inherent right just to get a certain amount of profit if your customers are being mistreated.” In and of itself, this comment reveals much about his beliefs and knowledge (or lack thereof) on economics, consumer choice, and the private sector in general. But in the context in which it was made — Bank of America, Citi, and other banks’ recently announced debit-card and checking-account fees for consumers, which they are charging to recoup losses from the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law’s...

more: http://www.SHTFplan.com/ From what we can gather, according to eye witness testimony, St. Louis PD has barricaded the Bank of America building and is refusing customer access to deposits. Eye witness account: ‘They would not let me get past that barricade, where those three guys are. I talked to the liutenant of the St. Louis Police Department – and he said they [customers?] don’t have a legal right – but he was going to try to work out something, a symbolic gesture where eight people to pull out their money, I being one of them.’ He came back later and...

As I detailed here in February in "Dick Durbin Is Stealing Your Free Checking," thanks to price controls on debit card transactions from the Durbin Amendment of the 2010 Dodd-Frank "financial reform" law, free checking is going the way of the dodo bird. The Durbin price controls on interchange fees -- the so-called "swipe fees" that retailers pay to bank and credit unions that process debit card transactions, go into effect this Saturday, October 1, and are already showing more dire effects than originally predicted. Not only is free checking disappearing at a rapid pace -- a new Bankrate.com survey...

China: Chinese Banks Close to Collapse. Fears of zero growth The Chinese Financial Index fell by 24%, more than that of European and American bank stocks. Chinese banks are plagued by insolvent debts due to loans to local governments and the stagnant property market. The country's growth, currently estimated at 9.5%, is at risk Thursday, September 29, 2011 By Asia News Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The listings of Chinese banks have dropped to very low levels, raising fears that a collapse could wipe out the country's growth. This is what emerges from news announced today by Bloomberg, according...

Bank of America plans to start charging customers a $5 monthly fee for using their debit card for purchases. The fee will be rolled out starting early next year. [snip]...Anne Pace, a Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman, said Thursday that customers will only be charged the fee if they use their debit cards for purchases in any given month. Customers won't be charged if they only use their cards at an ATM. The fee will apply to basic accounts and will be in addition to any monthly fees customers are already being charged. For example, one of the bank's basic...

Feinstein campaign sues bank, ex-treasurer over missing fundsBy Mary Slosson LOS ANGELES | Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:59pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Senator Dianne Feinstein's campaign sued its former treasurer and the First California Bank on Friday, seeking the return of millions of dollars in missing funds the campaign believes were embezzled. Campaign officials said the action came after the bank failed to provide the campaign access to its own account records when a tangle of unauthorized money transfers and co-mingling of funds was unearthed. The irregularities were spread across 400 bank accounts and dozens of organizations over a...

A Kansas City man who marketed and sold $100 million in worthless financial documents was found guilty of multiple federal fraud charges Wednesday. Denny Ray Hardin, 52, who ran the Private Bank of Denny Ray Hardin out of his home, was convicted of 11 counts of creating fictitious obligations and 10 counts of mail fraud. A judge found him guilty after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. According to trial testimony, Hardin used his home computer to produce more than 2,000 “bonded promissory notes,” which he claimed were backed by a U.S. Treasury Department account and...

Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, has warned that "numerous" European lenders would collapse if they were forced to book their losses on stricken sovereign bonds.Mr Ackermann said that the value of billions of euros of loans has plunged to a level that could overwhelm smaller banks. "Numerous European banks would not survive having to revalue sovereign debt held on the banking book at market levels." "We should resign ourselves to the fact that the 'new normality' is characterised by volatility and uncertainty," he said. "All this reminds one of the autumn of 2008." Deutsche Bank...

Tero Kuittinen 9/05/2011 @ 6:10PM |1,338 views Europe Is Finally Forced into a Corner The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. After a lull of few weeks, markets are suddenly starting to demand a decision from Europe. EU countries may have only days or weeks to finally agree on how to handle the rapidly escalating sovereign debt mess. As America celebrated Labor Day, Europe lurched decisively towards a culmination of its long-brewing debt crisis as several different plot lines started converging into a single, grim narrative. Greece’s 2-year bond yields finally cracked the...

Here's a novel idea: Have Congress create a "bank" that could borrow huge sums with only a small federal outlay and would be independent of any political interference. If you believe in this miracle, you probably thought Fannie Mae was a private company that wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. We're referring to Washington's latest marketing tool to sell spending to a skeptical public, a new federal "infrastructure bank." For the low, low price of $30 billion or so, President Obama says Congress can conjure hundreds of billions in new "grants and loans" to rebuild "roads, bridges, and ports and broadband...

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp is selling about half its stake in China Construction Bank for $8.3 billion, in its latest effort to shed assets and boost capital. A group of investors is buying 13.1 billion CCB shares from Bank of America, with the deal expected to close in the third quarter. The U.S. bank declined to name the investors but two sources said Singapore state fund Temasek was among the buyers. Bank of America needs to boost capital by some $50 billion in the coming years to meet new global rules, according to multiple analyst estimates. CCB is...

A RUN ON THE BANKS AND A BLESSING ON THE "TRUE" WELLSPRINGS ! A run on the banks is about to ascend , No more cards or things prepaid these to shall come to an end , It all shall be cash on the barrel head , Those living in Christ shall walk over the dead , The Poor shall be Rich, the rich shall be Poor , Only "True" trust and faith shall open a door , To "ALL" you need in Christ Alone ! I AM your provision ~ I AM your home ! The ways of the...

AUGUST 19, 2011 Bank of America Set to Slice Jobs Reductions Total 3,500 in Current Quarter; Many More Seen BY DAN FITZPATRICK Bank of America Corp. is cutting 3,500 jobs in the current quarter and working on a broader restructuring that could eliminate thousands of additional positions, people familiar with the situation said. The 3,500 positions are spread across the nation's largest bank by assets, including investment banking and trading, and the cuts are expected to be completed by the end of September. Some employees already have been notified. Thousands of additional reductions are expected as part of an aggressive...

Main Street Bank lends most of its money to small businesses and is earning decent profits. But the Kingwood, Texas, bank is about to get out of the banking business. In an extreme example of the frustration felt by many bankers as regulators toughen their oversight of the nation's financial institutions, Main Street's chairman, Thomas Depping, is expected to announce Wednesday that the 27-year-old bank will surrender its banking charter and sell its four branches to a nearby bank. Mr. Depping plans to set up a new lender that will operate beyond the reach of banking regulators—and the deposit-insurance safety...

Nobody ever said all the criminal street thugs at ACORN were bright. The left-wing astroturfers of ACORN’s new front group in California, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), were behind a garbage-dumping stunt at a branch of Wells Fargo bank in San Jose, Calif. News reports consistently depict the players as angry homeowners who spontaneously erupted in a spasm of righteous indignation. As if. These “homeowners” were reportedly unhappy about the upkeep at a foreclosed property they thought Wells Fargo was responsible for so they decided to dump uncollected garbage at the bank. The problem is that while Wells...

CEOs of the nation's leading banks, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, sent a letter to the White House and Congress on Thursday urging them to hurry up and reach a debt agreement. In the letter, sent by the Financial Services Forum to President Obama and members of Congress, the CEOs said an agreement needs to be made this week, or else there will be "grave" consequences. "A default on our nation's obligations, or a downgrade of America's credit rating, would be a tremendous blow to business and investor confidence -- raising interest rates for everyone who borrows, undermining the...

The idea of such a bank has been around since the 1990s but has never gained significant attention until now. In March a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate that gained the support of the US Chamber of Commerce, America’s leading business lobby, and the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation — two groups on opposite sides of most debates. The BUILD Act, proposed by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Kay Hutchinson, R-Texas, and Mark Warner, D-Va., would create a national infrastructure bank that would provide loans and loan guarantees to encourage private investment in upgrading America’s infrastructure. There are...